Funny language mistakes

[GilliC]

There was a thread of these going around on one of the local expat boards, and some of them were hilarious!

Does anyone have some to share?

[GilliC]

This was inspired partly because I just experienced one of my own!

I have a tendency to quote bits of song lyrics and one of my German friends thinks I have a song for everything. I was complaining to him by text that the bus was late again, and he replied with some modified Elton John:

"'Don't let the bus go down on you'"

When I stopped giggling, I had to explain to him what he'd said! And now I will never hear that song the same way again!

[origami]

DH has some great stories about this but I'm drawing a blank except for my German friend who pronounces the word goggles as googles. I've started calling them googles because I think it's so funny.

DH got yelled at during a work meeting by his boss because his boss misread a word. DH had told the boss "condensation" in their product was not an issue. Next thing he knows he's getting yelled at because condensation was an issue. Then a 3rd guy whispers to the boss, "this report says contamination, not condensation." And the boss immediately changed the topic without any apology or explanation. The report actually said "containment" so they were both wrong.

[loira]

Jan 15, 2016 6:31:07 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

The whole "pants" vs. "trousers" thing is going to bite me one day, it's just a matter of when. I almost messed up recently when talking to a co-worker in the bathroom one morning and complaining about how dirty my "pants" were from my walk to work and the splattering from wet sidewalks.

I did manage to integrate 'trousers' into my vocabulary, but it's probably less of a problem than we think. Most Brits watch enough North American TV and movies to know we mean 'trousers' when we say 'pants'. Though I'd still refrain from phrasing it 'splatter on my pants'.

[loira]

When I lived in Brazil, I often confused the word 'perigoso' (dangerous) with 'preguiçoso' (lazy).

[loira]

Jan 15, 2016 9:53:39 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Jan 15, 2016 9:45:12 GMT -5 loira said:

I did manage to integrate 'trousers' into my vocabulary, but it's probably less of a problem than we think. Most Brits watch enough North American TV and movies to know we mean 'trousers' when we say 'pants'. Though I'd still refrain from phrasing it 'splatter on my pants'.

Exactly! It's all in the context and that's one example of exactly how not to mix up the two!

I once worked for a company where we had a new batch of young, American interns every 3-4 months. My welcome speech always involved telling them 'don't use the term fanny pack... like, ever'.

[elenetxu]

DH ordered a "Diet Cock" (coke).

I said "flauta traviesa" (naughty flute) instead of "flauta travesera" (flute).